


Fire and Ice

by XindraArgos



Category: Ghost Rider (2007), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Brother Feels, Gen, Loki Feels, Loki Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-16
Updated: 2015-01-16
Packaged: 2018-03-07 20:15:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3181700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XindraArgos/pseuds/XindraArgos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is supposed to be a sequel to my first fanfic "Still brothers", but it can be read stand-alone as well. Enjoy :)</p><p>Loki went down to Midgard to watch the pathetic mortals fight against Ultron - and was soon found by Ghost Rider, who wanted to send him to hell...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Italy

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Still brothers](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3094748) by [XindraArgos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/XindraArgos/pseuds/XindraArgos). 



> This was written before Age of Ultron came out, so the content might not quite fit into what really is to be seen in the movie.
> 
> Dislaimer: I do not own any of the characters.  
> Contains quotations from original sources of characters.  
> This was written purely for fun - no copyright infringement intended.

After having warned Thor about a coming big peril in Midgard, Loki was pleased with himself. He had the feeling of having done the right thing – which was not very often – and he found that he was even, at least a little bit, happy about having seen his brother again.

Everything was going fine as he was still the king of Asgard.  
But he was starting to get bored. Carrying the responsibility for nine realms was not very amusing, and neither was it easy.  
Every day he had to hide his appearance under a spell and that alone was annoying!  
How he longed for having some fun... for watching the mortals fight an enemy they built themselves...  
He wanted to see how his brother’s petty friends were doing. Not because he cared for the Midgardians, but because they put up quite a fight against his own army, after all... it seemed to be such a long time ago now... 

Anyway, the right-now battle would surely be fun to watch.  
But just going down there was next to impossible given the fact that he had to pretend to be Odin – or was it? Doesn’t the All-father also carry a responsibility towards Midgard? And if so, shouldn’t he be down there to help?

All Loki had to do was to use the Bifrost, so that no one – especially not Heimdall – would become suspicious, and go on with hiding his true body of the guard’s view, which would not pose any problem. He had done it often enough by now, after all...

***

It was a sunny day in the middle of April and quite warm.

Johnny was driving his motorbike through the Valle d’Aosta in Italy, where he wanted to spend a few days at a lake he had seen on the internet, before going back to his isolated house in the mountains – not that the place he was about to attend would be too crowded.  
During his research he found an old house, which wasn’t in use any more, but had a nice view, all the same.

***

It was done. He was finally back in Midgard. But this time he wasn’t in New York City. He was on a different continent. Not that this was his choice. He just followed “Earth’s mightiest heroes” on their quest to stop a mechanical man – Ultron as they called him – and that led him to Italy.

He found himself in front of a big fortress and assumed that he would have the best view from the roof, so he used his magic to teleport himself up there.

Loki enjoyed what he saw. It amused him to watch the team – his old enemies mixed with some new guys – fight against each other and Ultron in turn. They were still too easy to provoke...

’8 against 1... They need 2 so-called heroes more now than when battling me – a God? Only to defeat a pathetic robot? ... I always assumed it was just good luck that they won back then – or the Chitauri’s fault... But that doesn’t matter now. I’m here to watch – and maybe to “help”...’  
With a mischievous grin on his face he sat down...

*** 

All was quiet at the lake and there was no one to be seen, but still Johnny knew that an evil creature was around – Zarathos, the demon within him, made that very clear. Especially now, as at the sunlight was fading away... 

So he went back into the small wooden cottage and locked every exit he could find. After doing so he went into his sleeping room and locked that door as well. He even used a long rope to bind himself to the bed, though he knew that this wouldn’t stop the monster, at all... It would only slow it down, at best... But Johnny didn’t want to give in. Not now!

***

Ultron had summoned an army of mechanical soldiers and two humans – with magical powers, it seemed – around him that where representing a tough task for the Avengers.  
‘With their green friend battling Stark they’ll never make it. And where’s my brother? ... Ah! There he is!’

Thor was battling a dozen robots at once. They were closing in on him and just when they all had surrounded him he held his hammer aloft and sent a lightening at them. They all fell to the floor like puppets immediately, of course. Thor then flew off to help Stark with getting the Hulk to senses.  
‘Bighead’, Loki thought.

***

Johnny was starting to lose control. He lay flat on his bed, eyes wide open, and tried to hold it back. He felt the demon right under his skin. He forced himself to focus all his thoughts on something nice. On all the good things Man was capable of. He fought it.  
He turned his body in every possible direction, although his legs were bound to the feet of the bed and his hands were tied together.

Then he began to shake uncontrollably and he let out a scream. In this very scream his own voice began to change. A few moments later the flesh on his bones was being eaten by fire coming right out of his own body and the ropes were burning to ashes, as was the rest of the room. Johnny still tried to fight it, but it was useless now. 

The Rider was back. And he was about to punish the evil creature he was sensing.

The burning skeleton went to the door and smashed it, then called for his Bike to come out and swung himself upon it. He drove off with enormous speed.

*** 

Suddenly the robots, which had been lying on the stony floor, got up again. This time they were going for Hawkeye. ‘Let’s see how good you are when you’re not working for me, Agent Barton.’

Instead of striking the enemy, Hawkeye shot his arrow in the opposite direction – up the wall, which was behind him. As the arrow struck, Loki noticed a rope being attached to it.  
‘Clever. I knew I chose one of the best last time.’ The God of Mischief was smirking as he said that.

Barton then used his bow to climb up the rope.  
From his new position at the top of one of the big outer walls of the castle, it was easy to hit the bad guys, but the arrows just wouldn’t pierce the metal they were made of.

‘The soldier. Out of time, but still showing up.’ 

Rogers was coming out of the castle and stopped right under the tower on which Hawkeye was standing.  
\- “Need any help here?”  
“Does is look like it?”  
\- “You want an answer to that? ... I’ll help you clean up.”

At the last sentence Captain America was storming right at the robots. He used his shield to cut off parts of their bodies, just like he did when the Chitauri attacked.  
‘... Just like then. This man surely has time issues... I’ll rather have an eye on the Hulk-thing. That’s even more fun to watch, I’m sure.’

As Loki finished his thought, he stood up and used transported himself into the wood, which was encircling the castle. He knew that the rest of the team was to be found there – the number of fallen, or cut-off trees just wasn’t to be overlooked...

*** 

The hunger to punish evil increased all the way. He could sense that he was getting nearer.

Finally the Rider stopped his motorbike in the middle of a forest. He noticed the damage that had been done there – it hadn’t happened too long ago.  
He followed the track until he found himself in a place, where there was not a single tree standing anymore and apart from a big rock in the middle the area was empty.

*** 

‘Someone’s coming. Have they seen me? No, they couldn’t have. They were too busy trying to kill each other.’  
As he cautiously turned his head to look over the rock, he saw ... what? What on Asgard was that?


	2. Fire and Ice

“Back to hell!” a twisted and mad voice shouted.  
Ghost Rider was now standing directly in front of the rock – and Loki was looking straight into his empty and burning eye-holes. ‘Is that a burning human? Midgard is indeed weirder than I’ve already known.’

The God of Mischief wouldn’t be scared, let alone impressed, that easily. He wouldn’t fear a pathetic mortal, of course. But he decided he couldn’t walk out as himself. If it was a trap...  
He didn’t want to admit it, but he knew that he wasn’t standing a chance against the Avengers without an army...

So he disguised himself as Odin, went forward and answered:  
\- “I don’t come from hell. I am Odin – All-father and king of Asgard.”

The Rider wasn’t reacting to that, at all. He was just staring at Loki and Loki stared back at him – not knowing what to think of that thing.

-“So?”

Instead of saying anything Ghost Rider loosened the chain he was carrying around his shoulder and as he held it in both of his hands and ran them over it, it began to burn – not just glow or melt, but BURN.  
Then he started to swing it around, like a cowboy.

Loki now looked at the Rider like a hungry lion, still having a half-smile on his fake-Odin-lips. He understood that this fellow could, eventually, pose a threat and didn’t want to underestimate him. This was going to be very interesting.

The Rider increased the speed of swinging the chain and pointed out “Reveal yourself!”, while changing the direction of the swinging chain. Instead of waving it around above his head, he now pointed it directly at Loki and created a horizontal vortex of fire and darkness in front of him.

Loki’s eyes – or Odin’s one good eye, better said – widened as he felt heat rushing at him.  
As soon as it reached him he couldn’t see anything anymore and it felt as if it was starting to burn his disguise off him. He wasn’t able to move, but he was still able to use his magic...

“I will make you feel all the pain you caused on innocent lives”  
After he said that he stopped swinging the chain and when it fell to the ground, there was no one to be seen. Loki had vanished.

The Rider stared onto the spot where his victim had been standing only a few seconds ago.  
-“Ah yes... Do you have an idea what **I** had to go through?”

As the demon turned around, he as moving directly into Loki’s dagger, which the latter rammed into him until there was only the shaft standing out. He appeared as himself again.  
“You humans are never going to fall for that, are you? ... And just so you know: I am Loki.”

Loki made a few steps back and waited. Something was strange... That thing wasn’t bleeding, nor was he falling down... And he didn’t scream or express pain in any other way, either...

Instead he turned around and said “I know who you are – and what you did. You killed innocent people and therefore must be punished. I will send you to where you belong.” He fixated his enemy with a piercing stare, while coming nearer.

After having briefly looked down, a loathing grin appeared on Loki’s face.  
“I am already where I belong.”  
When Ghost Rider was only about five steps away from him, Loki created illusions of himself, which encircled the demon. Then a despicable laugh was to be heard from all of these copies.

The burning skeleton just moved his head past the fake-Gods. As he stopped, he turned his hands and a wall of fire shot out of the ground all around him.  
Loki clearly hadn’t expected something like that. While his duplications were not moving, the “right” one made a sudden step backwards – which is what the Rider wanted, of course.

The demon moved quickly and held Loki up with one hand, before the latter had even realised it.  
At the touch of it, Loki’s skin turned blue, his eyes became red – he changed into his original appearance. His Jotun Form.

“Look into my eyes” was what the Rider said. He was about to use the Penance Stare – his most powerful weapon. Whoever looked into his eyes would feel all the pain he had caused on other people in his whole life and thus his soul would burn. 

But Loki did not know that – how could he? So he did indeed look into those empty eyeholes.


	3. Memories

There was a baby being seen as it was picked up in the aftermath of a battle and taken away by Odin. 

When this memory was over, the next ones appeared out of nowhere:  
They told the story of a boy growing up in the shade of his brother, whom he loved dearly, but also envied, because no matter what he did, Thor would always be preferred by their parents.  
As a result the kid became more desperate in surpassing his brother with every day that went by.

*** 

The kid was no longer a kid. He had turned into a man, but the family situation had not changed a bit. Until the day he accompanied Thor and his three friends into a distant realm – a place, where coldness and darkness ruled. The group just wanted to sort something out by talking but they soon found themselves fighting in a battle.

That’s when it happened.

Loki was attacked by one of the monsters and, instead of being hurt in any way, his skin just changed its colour. The Rider could feel confusion and fear coming from the man, whose memories he was seeing.

Later that day the beloved, but envied, brother was banished and hope began to stir up between all the confusion. Everything he wanted to do was making sure that he wouldn’t be second to Thor this time. He didn’t want him to come back. He was standing in the front row for the first time in his life and he wanted it to last.

*** 

The next thing the Rider could see was Loki gathering his courage to confront his father with the events of the previous day. He was desperate to know the truth – the truth about himself. 

‘Tell meee!’

When Odin told him, though, he felt like being hit bit a lightening. He was an outsider. A monster.  
‘So I am no more than another stolen relict? Locked up here, until you might have use of me.’

Zarathos was overwhelmed by the emotions he was feeling when he saw that scene. Despair, anger, confusion, grief, madness. It was almost too much to bear – especially for an insane fallen angel like him...

*** 

He had made up his mind. He wanted to destroy that race of monsters and prove to his father that he was a worthy son. He wanted to make him proud of him.

‘I could have done it, father! For you! For all of us!'  
But the answer was just ‘No, Loki.’, like every time. So he let go. He wanted to end this and die.

*** 

Pain. Terror. Fear. That’s what Zarathos experienced next.

After falling from the Rainbow Bridge Loki was found by Thanos – and tortured. He was brought to believe that he was the rightful king of Asgard, which made sense to him of course, since all his life had been a lie...

In the end he was determined to subjugate humanity and take over Midgard for vengeance.  
He was hardened. 

‘An ant has no quarrel with a boot’  
But he wasn’t the boot – Loki was the ant. He was a puppet in someone else’s game – AGAIN. And that realisation came too late. Only when the Chitauri had already arrived did he come to his senses.

‘It’s too late to stop it’  
He found himself drowning in a mixture of despair, terror and grief when he was standing next to his brother on the top of Stark Tower and watching the madness for which he alone was responsible. 

‘Sentiment’. He wouldn’t let his confused mind interfere with his birthright to be a king. So he went on leading the army and fighting – until he got Hulk-smashed, that is.

*** 

Loki was back in Asgard and about to be brought to Odin to answer for his crimes.  
He had done no wrong, or had he? It was his birthright to be a king!

‘Your birthright was to die! As a child!’  
Jotun. Frost Giant. Monster. The truth was hard to swallow.  
‘If I had not taken you in, you would not be here now, to hate me.’  
Why did he take him, anyway? As a trophy? Loki would never forgive Odin for what he did to him.

‘Frigga is the only reason you’re still alive and you’ll never see her again!’  
As he understood the meaning of these words, it became hard to breathe. He felt like he had been punched very hard into the rips and all the air was leaving his lungs.  
His already ripped apart soul had been shattered into a million pieces.

They would let him rot in the dungeon, where he would be locked away from his mother – the only person who was still caring, still hoping. And he knew it.

*** 

Loki was in his cell when a guard appeared outside and told him that Asgard had been attacked by the Dark Elves and that Frigga had died. Now she was truly gone from him and he would never be able to see her again.

Sadness, anger, rue, grief, hopelessness.  
He felt like he was falling into that abyss again and longed for death to embrace him. He wanted it all to end.

So did Zarathos, but he couldn’t escape.

*** 

The God of Mischief was supposed to be dead. He lay flat on the ground and made no move, until his brother and the mortal woman were gone.  
He then changed his appearance and returned to Asgard, where he went to Odin to inform him about his “son’s” death. Loki wanted to see that face. He wanted to know whether or not he truly was that cold block of ice he thought him to be.

‘Loki.’  
There was something in the way the All-father said his name this time, that was different. It seemed that Odin’s voice was softer, even hoarse... or was it?  
Was he only trying to see something there? Or did his “father” truly care? Still?

*** 

‘That I was proud of the man you have become, I couldn’t say. It would speak only from my heart’  
And so it did. Loki was proud of his brother, but found it very amusing to let him believe he was dead, all the same. He was the God of Mischief after all.

Loki was satisfied with himself, but time would never be able to heal the wounds he had to cope with. Which is why he - somehow - started to miss Thor while sitting on the throne of Asgard.  
So he began watching him and when he found out about Ultron he made up his mind to inform his brother about it. 

‘After all, you’re still my brother’

 

Zarathos saw everything. He felt everything. He was exhausted.  
There were just so many emotions combined within this man. The creature he was about to punish...


	4. Broken

The Rider fell to the ground. The flames covering his body changed its colour to a light blue and he was screaming. The Penance Stare had backfired. Everything that had happened, everything that Zarathos saw, must have been too much for him to bear.

Slowly the fire was vanishing and flesh began to reappear on the blank bones. He was changing back.  
After going on with struggling and fighting himself, he finally lay flat on the land. 

Loki, in his “Asgardian” appearance, was standing right in front of him and looked down with a loathing smirk on his face. Johnny slowly came back to his senses and tried to get up.

“Finally someone kneeling before me. “ The God did indeed enjoy that sight.

\- “I have a terrible headache.”

“Is that it, then? Now mortal, if you’ll excuse me, I have to return to where I belong.”  
And with that he left the place.

Johnny managed to stand up and he started to walk towards his bike, while thinking about what he had just seen and felt. 

Just a few seconds ago, there was a man standing in front of him, who was torn apart inside, but still enormously self-confident outside, or was he? He had to admit that he was impressed.

‘And he let me live. But why? I – the Rider – was about to kill him, so why didn’t he harm me?’  
As he drove off, his head was still aching terribly and he was lost in his thoughts.


End file.
